You can now find out if GCHQ spied on you

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Jeremy Fleming, the deputy director general of MI5, will take charge of the UK's spy agency next month, "around Easter" and it will be his first public-facing role with the civil service.

Foreign secretary Johnson called Fleming a “dedicated public servant whose work over two decades in the intelligence services has helped to keep our country safe” and said it was vital to develop GCHQ's work to defend Britain from "cyber-attacks, terror plots and other activities that threaten us and our allies”.

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Fleming added: “It is a great privilege to be asked to lead GCHQ as it approaches its centenary in 2019. The organisation has a distinguished past and an increasingly important role to play in keeping Britain safe."

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In his letter to Johnson, the GCHQ boss said he was "proud" of what was achieved during his years in charge but is looking for a "change in direction." "After a good deal of thought I have decided that this is the right time to move on and to allow someone else to lead GCHQ through its next phase," Hannigan wrote.

Robert Hannigan delivers a speech on November 17, 2015 in Cheltenham, England

Ben Birchall - WPA Pool / Getty Images

During his tenure, Hannigan faced a number of challenges, including the agency's response to terrorism, GCHQ's legal position on surveillance, and its interaction with technology companies.

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However, the agency's work has been overshadowed by the disclosures of NSA contractor Edward Snowden. In October 2016, GCHQ (as well as MI6 and MI5) was ruled to have collected bulk communications data and bulk personal datasets in an unlawful way for a period of more than two years. Information collection "failed to comply" with the European Convention on Human Rights.

In March 2016, during a rare public speech, Hannigan said there needs to be "good will" established between technology companies and security services around the world. The speech came at a time when Apple was having a very public encryption battle with the FBI. "We recognise that we need a new relationship between the tech sector, academia, civil society and Government agencies," he said.

Hannigan also said he was "not in favour of banning encryption" and that he wasn't asking for "mandatory backdoors" so his agency could access messages. In November 2014, he said privacy has never been "an absolute right".